


Utena and chill

by transboyzayn



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Cable guy AU, Canon Disabled Character, Everyone is Trans, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, bucky loves anime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 10:39:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5087542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transboyzayn/pseuds/transboyzayn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This mess was co-written with James, softhills.tumblr.com. Inspired by real-life events involving a cable guy being very chatty but not nearly as flirty. Bucky doesn't leave the house much, but luckily the adorable boys just come to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Utena and chill

The internet had been out for nearly 5 hours, and Bucky was getting increasingly pissed off. It had taken 3 phone calls and plenty of rebooting to get the cable company to send someone over. That was almost an hour ago. All Bucky wanted was to finish the next episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Just as he was debating whether it would be worthwhile to use the rest of his data to finish the episode on his phone, the guy finally arrived. 

“Hey there! I hear you’re having trouble with your internet connection, I’m Steve! Hopefully I can help, may I come in?”

He was a good six inches shorter than Bucky, but made up for it with an inhumanely fast rate of speech. 

Bucky stepped back from the door to let the guy inside, posture a little slumped and running his hand through his hair. It fell limp -and admittedly a little greasy- in to his face. No point showering for the sake of a cable guy.   
"Yeah, uh, it just shut off? First it was slow as fuck, then it stopped and the light on the damn router keeps blinking. Mocking me." He glared in the hardware's direction.

Steve grinned, always playing confident in new situations. He crossed the entryway and pried his sneakers off with the help of his cane. “Show me the way and I’ll get you sorted it out! I hear you’ve had a rough few hours, that really blows.”

This guy was just radiating energy, so much so he wasn't even sure how to respond in a way that wasn't some kind of sarcastic. So he gave a meaningless grunt, waving his hand for Steve to follow after. 

He led him to the living room, where there was an outlet jammed with what was probably too many cords and hookup, an over loaded power bar stretching over from an outlet across the room.   
In front of that sat his laptop, an old beaten up thing that was lit up by the Netflix logo. Underneath was a frozen buffering symbol.   
Was there anything more horrific?   
"So... That's my set up. Good luck." There was a tinge of humour in his voice. He hoped Steve knew what he was doing.

Steve’s smile never faltered as he shakily crouched down, poking around at the modem. “This is pretty extreme, just saying... You could move the modem to a different spot maybe, if you have any room...”   
He kept tinkering, rebooting the system for good measure.

Bucky shrugged the one shoulder that had an arm attached. "Sure. You can re-arrange things however you want, pal. You point, I'll lift." He felt weird inviting someone to his house without offering so help them. Besides, if he learned a thing or two, maybe he wouldn't have to call again.   
"And uh, you can sit on the couch if you want. Cables should reach."   
Offer to help. Offer a seat. Offer a... Drink? He tried to remember the rules his mom taught him as a kid, the ones meant to make him seem like a polite host and not some grumpy jerk who just wanted to get back to his anime. Really though, why lie to himself? He knew which one he was.

“Oh! Yeah, maybe the couch would be best..” He wobbled to his feet, bringing the router with him while trying not to get tangled in the wires. “Looks like it could be an issue with the outgoing signal,” he mumbled, perching on the couch and placing his cane by his side. “You didn’t.. Drop it, or kick it, did you?”

Bucky glanced away at that, covering a laugh with a cough.   
"If I kicked it, am I gonna have to pay for it?" He couldn't look at Steve with this smirk on his lips. He could distinctly remember kicking it at least a few times today.   
"But if I did, which, I'm not confirming, it was only because there were already issues." Bucky considered him an old fashioned handy man of sorts. His policy was to hit things until they complied, and only call a professional when the suffering of not having the item work became to great to bare.

Steve couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t usually find it charming when people kicked what he was supposed to be fixing, but this guy seemed to be an exception. It helped that he was pretty easy on the eyes.  
“These older models went on the fritz all the time anyway, and it’s beyond salvage now. I’ll call for them to bring a new one, you’re due for an upgrade anyway. Sound ok?”

Bucky appreciated that the guy didn't seem upset that he had damaged the router. He probably dealt with stuff like that all the time, he figured.   
"Sure, pal. How long do you figure this is all gonna take?" He tried not to sound rude, but it was weird having a stranger in his house, and too much longer of this and he might go in to literal Internet withdrawals. 

A sharp beeping startled Bucky and steve winced, prying a small piece of plastic off the back of his ear. “God fucking damn it-“ He nudged his glasses up his nose, trying to press the right button to shut the damn thing off. “Y-yeah, sorry, should be, maybe half an hour? I’ll give them a call just give me a second, sorry-“

Once Bucky cleared his head and gave himself a quick mental assurance that whatever the sudden noise was, wasnt something to be scared of, he turned to Steve. Wordlessly he watched him a few moments, steadying his heart rate best he could, clenching his hand rhythmically.   
"Hey... Hey, no rush buddy. Its cool. Just uh- you okay?"

He managed to get the beeping to stop only by prying the tiny batteries out of his hearing aid. “Yeah, sorry, just- goddamn hearing aid. Someone needs to invent batteries that last longer than 48 hours I swear to god.. I’ll uh, i’ll try to get ahold of my boss, sorry for the noise.”

Now that the noise was gone it was easier for Bucky to settle back into himself.  
"It's okay, shit happens. Technology sucks, but I can always try kicking it for you?" He gave little smile and hoped the joke was well received. He always tried to deal with this kind of stuff with humour when he was having trouble with something, but he didn't want to come across as laughing at Steve. He knew these things could be sensitive.

“Only if you have four grand to spare,” he laughed, a little bitterly. “Its fine though, thanks. I really appreciate it.”   
He gave another smile as he pulled out his phone, dialling by memory.   
“Hey, it’s Steve.... Sorry, one sec, you’ll have to speak up..” He pulled the phone from his ear to turn up the volume, then put it on speakerphone. This only garbled the sound, frustrating Steve quickly.

Bucky gave a small laugh at the comment, understanding how pricey it could be to get any equipment or accommodation. They were supposed to be covered by the government, but getting a cent out of them was more of a fight than it was worth. 

As Steve got out his phone, Bucky let his mind wander. They were just going to babble about tech stuff he didn't understand, so he didn't see a point in listening.   
But soon the phone was rather loud and Steve had a frustrated tone to his voice, the familiar look of embarrassment anyone who could be considered disabled wore when having to ask for help of some kind.   
It pained Bucky to see something so familiar, so he listened as the person on the other line repeated themselves. 

"Something about changing out the cords to some newer ones.   
They want you to check the wiring in the apartment complex or something? See if it ain't hooked up correctly and..."   
He paused, listening again, making sure he spoke clear when he continued.   
"Just hook up a new router since mine's old."

Steve gave bucky a thankful look, speaking clearly into the phone. “Yeah, I just need you to send a whole new router over, this thing is beyond salvageable. We stopped selling these things at least 3 years ago..” He looked up, watching and listening for Bucky to relay the reply.

"You work for a company of cheapskates who don't want to replace old equipment."   
It was close enough to what the person said, anyway. If anything, a hair less polite.   
"They'll send one down with somebody in a few. Anything else you need?"

“Nope, that’s it.” He spoke a little louder, “Thanks, bud!” and hung up, laughing to relieve tension. “That was... wow, thanks for helping me out.” Steve let out a deep sigh, leaning back into the couch. “Sometimes my disabled ass is too stupid to ask for help.”

"No problem, man. I kinda get it." Bucky gave a casual shrug of his left shoulder, looking at where the arm of his sweater hung limply over nothing.   
"Asking for help is a pain in the ass. Never know if people are gonna get weird." 

Steve smiled, scooting over on the couch so he could join him. “I don’t think I got your name, or if I did, I can’t remember for the life of me.”

"You probably didn't get it, honestly. I'm a bit of a grumpy asshole."   
He turned a little from where he sat to face Steve.   
"I'm Bucky. Nice to meet you and all that."

They sat on the couch together, making small talk as they waited. The new router was soon dropped off by a grumbly store manager, and Steve got to work hooking it up. “Well,” he sighed after a few minutes of tinkering, “we’ll try that.” He refreshed Bucky’s netflix page, and soon the theme to Utena began playing.

Bucky watched Steve tinker and fiddle with the wires and router, interested and honestly impressed. He liked technology, but he didn't really get it. He'd only switched from Internet Explorer a year ago after some promoting from a friend. 

Once everything was in place, Bucky sighed in relief as the theme song washed over him. This is what today was meant to be. Though, he found he didn't mind Steve tagging along. 

Part way through the episode, he glanced over at Steve, nudging him with his knee to get his attention.   
"Hey, what do you think so far?" 

“Good, glad netflix has captions.. Do these two ever actually get together?” He gestures to the two girls on screen, “I can never tell if they’re just baiting us along or if they’re actually gonna make it real, y’know?”

Bucky groaned at the mention of baiting.   
"I haven't seen the full thing yet, and I'm not gonna risk spoilers, sorry pal." He looked appreciatively at Steve. It was nice he was enjoying it.   
"But if we keep watching, we'll find out."

“We’ll I’ve got to get going, but I’d love to, honestly.” He passed bucky a small card, with the cable business’s logo and his name underneath. “That’s my cell number, if you want..?”

Bucky took the card with a smile that wasnt far from shy, looking down at the name and number fondly.   
He looked back up at Steve.   
"Just for tech stuff, or..?"  
He didn't want to assume, but he hoped it was for more than that.

Steve’s ears flushed bright red. “I guess fixing your internet doesn’t really count as flirting.. Or we could just hang out, I mean it’s all fine, I don’t want to assume I guess?” Oh lord. He needed to get out more.

Bucky had never seen anyone's ears turn such a bright red. It was one of the cutest things he'd ever witnessed.   
"You were flirting?" He was grinning now, all teeth, with his eyes scrunching up.   
"You uh, should assume. In this case."

Steve gave him a shy smile, heart pounding in his chest. “Thats- That’s great!” He got to his feet, collecting his things. “Send me a text, yeah?”

Bucky bit his lower lip to keep his face from feeling like it was close to splitting in half. God, this really was great.   
"I will. You take care pal, okay? Wanna see you again soon."


End file.
